Delhi government bans Uber, blacklists company

Police say the accused driver did not even have a driving licence issued by the Delhi Transport Authority

The Delhi government on Monday banned "all activities" of Uber after a young female passenger was allegedly raped by one if its drivers.

An official statement said the Delhi government's transport department has blacklisted the company.  

Yesterday, the police had said they will take legal action against the US online taxi service for failing to run background checks on the cab driver.

Though the San Francisco-based radio taxi firm claims that it carries out a thorough background check on all its drivers, the police claim that the accused driver did not even have a driving licence issued by the Delhi Transport Authority and was connected with the service provider only with a smartphone application, which he exited soon after the incident.

Uber has faced critical news coverage over its driver screening in the United States too, and has apologised for comments by an executive who suggested "digging up dirt" on journalists investigating the firm.

The police on Sunday arrested the cab driver Shiv Kumar Yadav from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. He will be brought before a New Delhi court today, Madhur Verma, deputy commissioner with the Delhi Police had said yesterday.

Yadav has allegedly told the police that he spent  seven months in jail in a rape case which was filed against him in south Delhi's Mehrauli area in 2011.

Meanwhile, some people questioned the ban imposed by the Delhi government.